Northern Thailand News

Stay updated with the latest Northern Thailand news at The Thaiger, your ultimate source for regional information. Keep informed on local events, business developments, and lifestyle stories in popular locations like Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, and Pai.

Our in-depth coverage includes famous monuments such as the White Temple and Doi Suthep. Whether you’re a resident or a visitor, The Thaiger’s Northern Thailand news page is your essential guide to exploring this culturally rich region. Delve into the vibrant community and diverse culture with our expertly curated content, designed to keep you connected and well-informed.

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  • The team were ‘heavily sedated’ – Australian diver

    The team were ‘heavily sedated’ – Australian diver

    PHOTO: thewest.com.au The team of 13 rescued from the Tham Luang caves last week were ‘heavily sedated’ to assist in their successful recovery and to avoid panicking. One of two Australian experts who were with the Mu Pa football team and helped in last week’s rescue from the Tham Luong cave in Chiang Rai says the boys and their coach…

  • “They’ll grow up to work for country’s benefit” – Dr Pak

    “They’ll grow up to work for country’s benefit” – Dr Pak

    “I’m confident that the Mu Pa boys will grow up to be excellent citizens of the country and work for the benefits of the country’s future and reputation,” wrote Dr Pak Loharnchun in a Facebook post. The Army doctor played a leading role in helping the boys. The doctor also posted photos of himself giving the boys goodbye hugs in Chiangrai…

  • “Leave the kids alone” – Child psychiatrist

    “Leave the kids alone” – Child psychiatrist

    (4 minute read) The global attention drawn to the dramatic rescue mission has shone a glaring spotlight on the 12 young footballers from the Mu Pa Academy, making them unwitting public figures. Psychiatrists are stressing that the boys should draw on their own personal strength and support from their families to avoid becoming tainted by fame. Child psychiatrists are advising…

  • Chiang Rai: Mu Pa team pay tribute to Saman Kunan

    Chiang Rai: Mu Pa team pay tribute to Saman Kunan

    The Mu Pa Football players trapped in the Tham Luang Caves for almost three weeks paid tribute to the Navy SEAL who lost his life during the rescue operation. Wiping away tears, the boys wrote messages of thanks on a portrait of the former Navy SEAL Saman Kunan, who died July 6 during an operation to deliver oxygen tanks to…

  • Chiang Rai: Mu Pa team sends messages from hospital

    Chiang Rai: Mu Pa team sends messages from hospital

    The Mu Pa team have each sent a message from hospital. Here’s the video and the translation underneath. Enjoy. https://www.facebook.com/PhuriNews/videos/294712554406895/ Prachak Sutham (Note), 14, said he was now in good health and he would like to thank all the rescuers. Duangphet Promthep (Dom), 13, said he would like to eat rice with stew pork leg and he would like to…

  • Chiang Rai: Mu Pa team speak of their ordeal

    Chiang Rai: Mu Pa team speak of their ordeal

    As the team continues to recover in the Chiang Rai Prachanukro Hospital, the parents and guardians are now being given time with they kids. Here are some of the first details to emerge from some of the team members, as reported by Marisa Chimprabha… Chanin ‘Titan’ Wibulrungrueng Chanin Wibulrungrueng, one of the 13 Mu Pa Academy football club members who were…

  • “Massive, massive relief” – Diver Richard Stanton speaks

    “Massive, massive relief” – Diver Richard Stanton speaks

    “The mission was an order of difficulty much higher than anything that’s been accomplished anywhere around the world by any other cave diving team.” The British diver who found 12 Thai boys and their coach trapped alive in a flooded cave has described his “massive relief” as he counted them one by one, in what he called an unprecedented rescue…

  • Up close and personal – team continues to recover

    Up close and personal – team continues to recover

    The 13 footballers rescued from a flooded cave in Chiang Rai province continue to recover under the supervision of staff at the Chiangrai Prachanukroh Hospital. Relatives have even been up to visit them and be with them. The Public Health Ministry inspector-general Dr Thongchai Lertwilairattapong gave the latest report card on the group’s recovery this morning (Friday). He reports that the…

  • Thai Navy SEAL video reveals rescue method

    Thai Navy SEAL video reveals rescue method

    In the days leading up to the eventual evacuation of the Mu Pa team members from Tham Luang caves we were told that the teenagers were being taught to swim and dive in preparation for their arduous trek out of the cave, much of it underwater. This was reported by The Thaiger as well. Following the release of a Thai…

  • From inside the cave – bringing out the team. Thai Navy SEAL video.

    From inside the cave – bringing out the team. Thai Navy SEAL video.

    The Thai Navy SEAL Facebook page has released a video clip that shows for the first time how the 13 Mu Pa Academy football team members were evacuated from the Tham Luang cave. The 12 young footballers and their 25 year old assistant coach were trapped in the cave since June 23 after flash floods blocked their exit. They were…

  • Australian cave medic emerges to his own tragic news

    Australian cave medic emerges to his own tragic news

    In the wake of yesterday’s euphoria following the final five team members being successfully evacuated from the Tham Luang caves, a sad epilogue. An Australian doctor, Richard Harris, partly responsible for looking after the Thai football team during their cave ordeal, emerged last night, exhausted but relieved they job was over. Some sad news awaited him. He was told that…

  • American film crew already in Chiang Rai plotting movie

    American film crew already in Chiang Rai plotting movie

    As the rescue mission around the cave swings into a huge clean up operation, a US film crew has already arrived in Chiang Rai. Two American producers have been sniffing around plotting a movie project about the 12 young Mu Pa Academy footballers and their assistant coach who were trapped in the cave for more than two weeks. The final…

  • Chiang Rai: Final five OUT of the Tham Luang caves

    Chiang Rai: Final five OUT of the Tham Luang caves

    The Mu Pa football team will have the full group back together again soon. Number Nine emerges from the Tham Luang caves just after 4pm, Tuesday, Thai time. Today’s rescues are well ahead of schedule. FOUR to go!!! Plus there will be three Thai Navy Seals and one doctor to evacuate as well – they were inside with the team…

  • Chiang Rai: Solid food but no TV – Doctors report on the first eight out of the cave

    Chiang Rai: Solid food but no TV – Doctors report on the first eight out of the cave

    The eight members of the Mu Pa Academy football club, already rescued from the Tham Luang Cave in the past two days, are in good health mentally and physically. But attending doctors say all had high white blood cell counts and two initially showed indications of pneumonia. Senior health officials briefed reporters at Chiang Rai Prachanukroh Hospital this morning, saying…

  • Media slammed for unethical reporting – Narongsak Osottanakorn

    Media slammed for unethical reporting – Narongsak Osottanakorn

    PHOTOS: Karl Vandenhole and The Nation “Unethical reporting by the media has hampered the rescue operation to retrieve the 13 trapped footballers from the Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai. Reporters have broken the law and the rights of their news sources to get the latest stories,” this from the Mission Control chief, Narongsak Osottanakorn. He yesterday issued a stern warning…

  • Ekkapol Chanthawong – Parents are refusing to blame him

    Ekkapol Chanthawong – Parents are refusing to blame him

    PHOTO: From video of Thai Navy Seals Facebook page Eight out, five to go. But Ekkapol Chanthawong, the assistant football coach of the Mu Pa team, trapped in Tham Luang cave since June 23, is being credited with keeping his young team alive during their ordeal. He’s 25, the rest of the young team are between 11 and 16 years…

  • Chiang Rai: Team member 5 out of the caves

    Chiang Rai: Team member 5 out of the caves

    A young Mu Pa Academy footballer has emerged from Tham Luang cave at about 5pm, becoming the fifth teenager extracted from the cave in Chiang Rai province. The team member, whose name has not been revealed, was taken by ambulance from the cave in Mae Sai district before boarding a chopper to Chiang Rai Prachanukraw in Muang district. …

  • Day Two evacuations underway

    Day Two evacuations underway

    Evacuations are now well underway in day two of the process to extract the 13 players from inside the cave. Four were extracted from the cave last evening, according to an official announcement by former Governor of Chiang Rai Narongsak Osottanakorn. Yesterday divers and rescuers succeeded in recovering four of the 12 young players after divers headed into the cavern, prepared…

  • Chiang Rai: This afternoon’s media briefing

    Chiang Rai: This afternoon’s media briefing

    Snippets from this afternoon’s media briefing: • Governor says first four boys out of the cave are healthy and remain at hospital • They have been separated from relative. at this stage to prevent any potential infection • The boys have asked for Pat Ka Prao – Basil stir fried with rice • Officer’s radio frequency have now been jammed…

  • Chiang Rai: What we know – 2.30pm

    Chiang Rai: What we know – 2.30pm

    Divers have been preparing over the past 12 hours to resume their extraction of the remaining 9 people still inside the cave. They re-entered the cave mouth at 11am this morning. On this basis, comparing to yesterday’s timing, we can expect more of the team to emerge from the caves early this evening, but that is pure speculation. A drone…

  • First two players now safe at Chiang Rai hospital. Two more emerge from cave.

    First two players now safe at Chiang Rai hospital. Two more emerge from cave.

    The first two trapped footballers have been safely evacuated out of Tham Luang cave, a military news source has confirmed. Meanwhile the Thai Navy Seals Facebook page reported that at 7.47pm two more boys emerged from the cave, one needing medical assistance, but his condition is not fully known at this time. The Royal Thai Airforce’s Facebook fanpage “Air Force…

  • Chiang Rai: They will start coming out tonight at 9pm

    Chiang Rai: They will start coming out tonight at 9pm

    PHOTO: Thai PBS “Today is D-Day,” says the Chiang Rai Governor, adding that 13 international cave divers and 5 Navy SEAL members have gone into the cave to bring out the Mu Pa Football Academy members. “Each of the survivors will be escorted by two rescue divers. He told a media briefing that the first survivor should be brought out,…

  • Chiang Rai: The Mu Pa boys are on their way out – Governor

    Chiang Rai: The Mu Pa boys are on their way out – Governor

    A mission to evacuate the missing Mu Pa footballers and their coach who have been trapped for more than two weeks in Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district began at 10am this morning (Sunday), the mission chief said. “Today is the D-day. The boys are ready to face any challenges,” Narongsak Osottanakorn told reporters near the cave…

  • Chiang Rai: The rescue is on

    Chiang Rai: The rescue is on

    The evacuation is currently underway. The Chiang Rai Governor says the rescue mission started at 10am this morning and could take all of today and into tonight to complete. If all goes well they expect to bring the first footballer out around 9pm. The 13 trapped football team members are said to be ‘ready to go home’. They are…

  • Situation ‘perfect’ for evacuation – Narongsak Osottanakorn

    Situation ‘perfect’ for evacuation – Narongsak Osottanakorn

    Narongsak Osottanakorn, chief of the rescue operation, is saying that conditions are ‘perfect’ for an attempted evacuation. He says that the weather should be OK, in the next few days, for an attempted evacuation. Any longer than this and the rains will return along with conditions inside the cave becoming more challenging as well. This is a more upbeat mood…

  • Heavy rain forecast forcing rescuers to act, or wait

    Heavy rain forecast forcing rescuers to act, or wait

    Outgoing Chiang Rai governor, Narongsak, at a media briefing held at midnight last night, has admitted that oxygen supply within the section of the cave where the 13 footballers are waiting, has become a major concern. He also mentioned the threat from potential heavy rains in the next few days that is forcing the rescue teams to consider a premature…

  • Messages from inside the Tham Luang Caves

    Messages from inside the Tham Luang Caves

    Whilst they’re waiting for the rescue to start, the 13 trapped footballers have been taking time to write some messages to their families and the outside world, with a special note for their teachers. One message read… “Don’t worry. We are all healthy. We want to eat many kinds of food from outside. When we are out from the cave,…

  • “Urgent need to extract the survivors”, Chiang Rai Governor

    “Urgent need to extract the survivors”, Chiang Rai Governor

    A breakdown of rescue efforts at Chiang Rai in an excellent graphic from The Nation. Last night the former Governor of Chiang Rai at a midnight media conference said that there was an urgent need to extract the 13 with the threat of more rain and the health deterioration of some of the 13 survivors. The authorities and personnel involved…

  • Thaiger TV: Update on the two big stories from Thailand today

    Thaiger TV: Update on the two big stories from Thailand today

    https://www.facebook.com/thethaigernews/videos/1774414402636380/

  • Chiang Rai: Former Thai Navy SEAL dies during rescue

    Chiang Rai: Former Thai Navy SEAL dies during rescue

    A former Thai navy SEAL has died while on the way way back to the ‘hall 3’ area from where the 13 footballers are stranded. He was participating in the rescue of the 13 footballers in the Tham Luang Caves in Chiang Rai. He had finished his paid work with the Thai Navy SEAL team but was working with the rescue…